But what about the students who have special needs?

     One of my biggest pet peeves with the charter school I was employed at, was the identification and treatment of the special needs population. Having studied ESE education and having a special needs family member, this area was always of most importance to me. While I will always applaud teachers and the work they do, this particular school frowned on identifying special needs students, and therefore did not adequately train the teachers on the RTI process. The school was not very keen on spending money for special needs services, and the services that were offered for extremely limited.
     From what I experienced while employed there, I saw countless students with obvious signs on learning disabilities not receiving intervention, and what intervention that was received was not from qualified professionals. A lot of times students would be taken in as transfers, already having an IEP, which was almost completely ignored by staff and teachers alike. To defend the teachers, most were not trained in any way in special needs education, and I caught myself (still a student) often explaining ESE policies, laws, and teaching strategies to the classroom teachers. If an IEP was followed, it was the very minimum accommodations that could be given. I found that a lot of the parents had no clue that the IEP was not being followed, and even more of them had not had very much explained and didn't understand what an IEP was.
     Gifted education was even worse. Nothing was done for gifted students identified and possessing an EP. As little as the staff knew about students with special needs, they knew nothing about gifted education and students. Gifted students needs were either ignored entirely or they were given extra grade level work to keep them busy. With the lack of special needs education at the school, teachers were unable to inform parents about other school options and programs outside of the school, without fear of not being asked to return the next year. At certain points in this area, teaching jobs were very hard to come by, with layoffs and funding cuts at the public school level. Teachers just learned to keep their mouths shut and play along if they wanted to stay employed. This policy extended to pretty much everything to do with the school.